We’re wrapping up our weekly “Meet the Candidates” Q&A with the District 9 candidates, and looking back at all the answers from those running to replace termed out Supervisor Hillary Ronen and how they differ on citywide and local issues.
We’ve created a table to illustrate their clearest differences on mayoral picks, March propositions, the Mission street vending ban, encampment sweeps, and more.
In answering most of our other weekly questions, the differences were more nuanced.
To understand their stances better, we categorized the questions and summarized their answers.
Click on each of the topics below to see the main takeaways.
Planters in the district
Chandler supports the planters.
Two candidates, Bermudez and Brown, oppose the planters.
The others sidestepped the question.
Hernandez and Fielder said that planters were a band-aid solution to treat the real issue of homelessness.
Two, Bermudez and Torres, said the planters attract garbage if they are not maintained properly.
Torres and Hernandez said they supported the district’s greenery but faulted the planters for not being a solution to homelessness.
Housing
San Francisco is required to build some 82,000 homes, of which 46,000 must be affordable, by 2031.
Torres and Bermudez, said Prop. 33, the state measure to allow for rent control across California, is crucial to securing existing affordable units.
Trevor Chandler called for neighborhood preference when affordable units are built, to ensure people living near affordable housing get a leg-up on winning those units.
h brown said the city should buy all the land it can and develop it into affordable housing.
Gutierrez called for building another unit on top of single family homes to create more housing and a close relationship between landlord and tenants.
Fielder said the city needs to build housing all income levels but strive for 100 percent affordable units whenever possible, and called for revenue bonds and a public bank with no or low interest rates.
Hernandez proposed a first-time homeowner credit.
Public safety
Public safety is a hot topic in this election year, and also in District 9
Fielder, Hernandez and Bermudez called for more community policing and ambassador programs, but also called for more police officers patrolling the district.
Torres and Bermudez said that police officers should be recruited from the communities they serve.
Hernandez proposed hiring parents as school hallway counselors to provide support for kids early on.
Both Torres and Fielder asked to revise how SFPD is using its current budget and questioned whether the department needed more money.
Small businesses
To boost small businesses in District 9, three candidates — Gutierrez, Hernandez and Chandler — said they would emphasize safety, cleanliness and removing red tape.
Gutierrez also suggested the loss of parking has been a big contributor on why customers may be apprehensive about coming to the neighborhood.
Torres, Bermudez, and Fielder proposed strengthening the storefront vacancy tax and providing more subsidies for small businesses.
Brown called for legalizing sex work and gambling.
Valencia bike lane
One of the most controversial topics in District 9 over the last year and a half has been the Valencia center bike lane. A group of business owners claimed the bike lane hurt their business, though analyses from the city said the bike lane had no impact.
All seven candidates believed the bike lane’s design was dangerous, but Fielder called a step in the right direction that needed some serious work.
Two candidates said the centered bike lane has affected business in the corridor.
One candidate proposed moving the bike lane to Capp Street.
One candidate approved a floating parklet design, with parklets between the side-running bike lanes and car traffic.
Hernandez, Fielder and Torres said SFMTA could have done more listening to the community.
Mission vending ban
Since its implementation last November, the Mission street vending ban has become one of the most important issues affecting many residents in the district. For the most part, candidates believe City Hall should implement changes that take into account the needs of permitted vendors.
Two candidates said they opposed the ban.
Some of the candidates said they support creating zones at BART plazas along with night markets for permitted vendors to operate.
Fielder and Hernandez called for more coordination from City Hall to create a plan where local businesses, Public Works and police can work together to ensure permitted vendors are supported.
Following this line, brown called for the creation of police kobans with a permanent police presence.
Gutierrez, Chandler and Hernandez said illegal vending is what fueled this ban and that the city needed to act and do something about it.
Two candidates said street vending is part of the cultural identity of the neighborhood.
One candidate called to create a space for permitted vendors on Lilac and Osage alleys instead of Mission Street.
Chandler proposed guaranteed income for permitted vendors selling food and handicrafts.
Language accessibility
Language accessibility is another of the topics candidates are weighing in. In a district where 26.2 percent of voters are Latino and 25.3 are Asians, the question even came up at the last District 9 forum of the season.
Fielder, Hernandez and Chandler said they already had members of their campaigns who spoke an array of languages from Spanish, English, Cantonese and even rarer ones like Mayan.
Three candidates called for using technology. Chandler said he would use AI to make information available in every language. Bermudez said he would use social media to bring his message to more constituents and possibly add captions in multiple languages. For his part, brown said he would secure access to translating apps for every single one of his staffers.
Torres and Gutierrez said the languages currently offered by the city fall short from including all of those spoken in the neighborhood.
Road infrastructure for District 9
One of the most common proposed questions we received from our readers was about deplorable road conditions in District 9, especially on Mission Street. Supervisors do not have the power of Public Works when it comes to fixing roads, but we still asked candidates how they would advocate for better roads.
One candidate said PG&E and the water department are to blame because they improperly fix road infrastructure opened during their operations.
Two more candidates signaled their experience getting things done as their best quality to secure the services needed in the district. Chandler said he delivered for the neighborhood when advocated for more crosswalks while Hernandez pointed to his years of activism in the Mission District.
Most candidates simply said they would do all they can to advocate for better roads.
One candidate recognized, however, there is little a supervisor can do to secure these services.
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